It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." (Jude 14-15)
Do you ever feel like you were caught looking at the pitch? I did as I got home and reflected on our reading of Jude Wednesday night. I should have taken the opportunity to make a point that David Biven expressed when we saw him over a year ago. Wednesday night was a lost opportunity so I will be content to express myself on the Dusty Disciples.
According to Jude, Enoch tells us that the LORD is coming with “many thousands of His holy ones.” The term “many thousands” comes from the Greek word “murias (myriads),” Just like our numbering system, the Greek numbering system is built on multiples of tens “deka” (Matt 20:24), hundreds “kosioi“ (Acts 23:23), thousands “chilias” (Rev 5:11), and ten thousands “murias, sometimes translated as myriads” (Jude 14)(Rev 5:11). When a specific number is required, a prefix in placed in front such as “dia kosioi,” two hundred (Acts 23:23), “tris chilios” three thousand (Acts 2:41), “eikosi chilios” twenty thousand (Luke 14:31), “pente chilios” fifty thousand (Acts 19:19), etc.
Murios is the largest number in Greek and is understood as a multiple of ten thousand, generally at least twenty thousand. The number is rendered as follows in the various translations of Jude 14?
“The Lord is coming with thousands upon thousand of his holy ones,” (NIV)
“The Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,” (NASU)
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” (KJV)
“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,” (ESV)
The KJV and ESV rendering of murias as “ten thousands” is probably the best translation since murias is a multiple of ten thousand and could also be understood as “tens of thousands.” The implied number is a minimum of twenty thousand, but could be significantly higher, such as fifty to hundred thousand. For example, if a person says that they have a number of tens in their wallet, they usually mean at least four, otherwise they would say, “I have a couple tens or several tens.” The Psalmist provides the following definition of myriad (murias), “The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands,” (Psa 68:17, NASB). That definition gives the NIV translation some merit. (Teresa, you can still hang on to your NIV for a while.) In short, some indefinite multiple of ten thousand is being stated by Jude. No matter how high the number, it represents only a very small fraction of the “myriads of myriads” of angels that surround the throne of Lamb in John’s vision, (Rev5:11). So why so much emphasis in this artilce on the specific number of angels?
“They said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands(murias) there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law.” (Acts 21:20, ESV)
Murias is the underlying Greek word used by Luke for James' description of the number of believing Jews in Jerusalem. The ESV and KJV elected to translate the word as “ten thousands” in reference to the angels coming with Jesus, but only “many thousands” in reference to the believing Jews. That may not seem significant to some readers, but it is to me. Ten to twenty thousand could constitute “many thousands,” while “ten thousands” is a minimum of twenty, but is more likely to be forty to fifty thousand or more.
Believers sometimes ask why more Jews did not believe in Jesus. According to James, tens of thousands of Jews believed in Jerusalem alone. In the first century, the population of Jerusalem probably did not exceed 100,000 people. The population probably swelled to twice that number during the feasts and is reported to have reached over 500,000 during the Roman siege. Therefore, there is evidence from the statement of James that a quarter to half of the Jews living in Jerusalem believed in Jesus as the Messiah. This argument flies in the face of conventional wisdom which states that the Jews as a whole rejected Jesus. I think that is one reason why the ESV and KJV play down the number of believers in the statement of James.
If 50,000 believers lived in Jerusalem, it must have been quite a service on the Temple Mount each Shabbat. No wonder James was concerned about the effect Paul would have on the assembly in Jerusalem when he came to the city. What a shock it must have been when all these people were driven from assembling at the Temple Mount after the death of James in 62 AD. Even through this tragic event, many believers still remained in Jerusalem until sometime during the Jewish revolt (66-70 AD).
Yeshua warned believers “when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city,” (Luke 21:20). According to Eusebius, these Jewish believers did leave Jerusalem when the Roman army temporarily pulled back from the city in 69 AD after the death of Nero, as the LORD provided a way of escape.
Scott
Do you ever feel like you were caught looking at the pitch? I did as I got home and reflected on our reading of Jude Wednesday night. I should have taken the opportunity to make a point that David Biven expressed when we saw him over a year ago. Wednesday night was a lost opportunity so I will be content to express myself on the Dusty Disciples.
According to Jude, Enoch tells us that the LORD is coming with “many thousands of His holy ones.” The term “many thousands” comes from the Greek word “murias (myriads),” Just like our numbering system, the Greek numbering system is built on multiples of tens “deka” (Matt 20:24), hundreds “kosioi“ (Acts 23:23), thousands “chilias” (Rev 5:11), and ten thousands “murias, sometimes translated as myriads” (Jude 14)(Rev 5:11). When a specific number is required, a prefix in placed in front such as “dia kosioi,” two hundred (Acts 23:23), “tris chilios” three thousand (Acts 2:41), “eikosi chilios” twenty thousand (Luke 14:31), “pente chilios” fifty thousand (Acts 19:19), etc.
Murios is the largest number in Greek and is understood as a multiple of ten thousand, generally at least twenty thousand. The number is rendered as follows in the various translations of Jude 14?
“The Lord is coming with thousands upon thousand of his holy ones,” (NIV)
“The Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,” (NASU)
“Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” (KJV)
“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,” (ESV)
The KJV and ESV rendering of murias as “ten thousands” is probably the best translation since murias is a multiple of ten thousand and could also be understood as “tens of thousands.” The implied number is a minimum of twenty thousand, but could be significantly higher, such as fifty to hundred thousand. For example, if a person says that they have a number of tens in their wallet, they usually mean at least four, otherwise they would say, “I have a couple tens or several tens.” The Psalmist provides the following definition of myriad (murias), “The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands,” (Psa 68:17, NASB). That definition gives the NIV translation some merit. (Teresa, you can still hang on to your NIV for a while.) In short, some indefinite multiple of ten thousand is being stated by Jude. No matter how high the number, it represents only a very small fraction of the “myriads of myriads” of angels that surround the throne of Lamb in John’s vision, (Rev5:11). So why so much emphasis in this artilce on the specific number of angels?
“They said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands(murias) there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law.” (Acts 21:20, ESV)
Murias is the underlying Greek word used by Luke for James' description of the number of believing Jews in Jerusalem. The ESV and KJV elected to translate the word as “ten thousands” in reference to the angels coming with Jesus, but only “many thousands” in reference to the believing Jews. That may not seem significant to some readers, but it is to me. Ten to twenty thousand could constitute “many thousands,” while “ten thousands” is a minimum of twenty, but is more likely to be forty to fifty thousand or more.
Believers sometimes ask why more Jews did not believe in Jesus. According to James, tens of thousands of Jews believed in Jerusalem alone. In the first century, the population of Jerusalem probably did not exceed 100,000 people. The population probably swelled to twice that number during the feasts and is reported to have reached over 500,000 during the Roman siege. Therefore, there is evidence from the statement of James that a quarter to half of the Jews living in Jerusalem believed in Jesus as the Messiah. This argument flies in the face of conventional wisdom which states that the Jews as a whole rejected Jesus. I think that is one reason why the ESV and KJV play down the number of believers in the statement of James.
If 50,000 believers lived in Jerusalem, it must have been quite a service on the Temple Mount each Shabbat. No wonder James was concerned about the effect Paul would have on the assembly in Jerusalem when he came to the city. What a shock it must have been when all these people were driven from assembling at the Temple Mount after the death of James in 62 AD. Even through this tragic event, many believers still remained in Jerusalem until sometime during the Jewish revolt (66-70 AD).
Yeshua warned believers “when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city,” (Luke 21:20). According to Eusebius, these Jewish believers did leave Jerusalem when the Roman army temporarily pulled back from the city in 69 AD after the death of Nero, as the LORD provided a way of escape.
Scott
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